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In June, 2013 ICANN’s Board of Directors approved the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). (The RAA is the formal contract between ICANN and registrars, and sets out the obligations of both parties.) We’ll talk more about ICANN in the next installment of “Getting Started can be Tough”. But today we just want to talk about a few of the subtle but important changes in the Registrar Accreditation Agreement and how those changes will effect the process of registering a domain name:

Section 1 (“Registrar Accreditation Agreement”), Paragraph 3.7, Subparagraphs 10 & 11:3.7.10 Registrar shall publish on its website(s)… a link to the Registrants’ Benefits and Responsibilities Specification… and shall not take any action inconsistent with the corresponding provisions of this Agreement or applicable law.3.7.11 Registrar shall make available a description of the customer service handling processes available to Registered Name Holders regarding Registrar Services, including a description of the processes for submitting complaints and resolving disputes regarding the Registrar Services.

Section 1 (“Registrar Accreditation Agreement”), Paragraph 3.16:3.16 Link to Registrant Educational Information. ICANN has published an educational webpage summarizing the terms of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement and related Consensus Policies (as of the date of this Agreement, located at: http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/registrant-rights-responsibilities-en.htm). Registrar shall provide a link to such webpage on any website it may operate for domain name registration or renewal clearly displayed to its Registered Name Holders at least as clearly as its links to policies or notifications required to be displayed under ICANN Consensus Policies. ICANN may, in consultation with registrars, update the content and/or URL for this website.

Except as provided for in Section 3 below, within fifteen (15) days of (1) the registration of a Registered Name sponsored by Registrar, (2) the transfer of the sponsorship of a Registered Name to Registrar, or (3) any change in the Registered Name Holder with respect to any Registered Name sponsored by Registrar, Registrar will with respect to both Whois information and the corresponding customer account holder contact information related to such Registered Name:

Verify:

the email address of the Registered Name Holder (and, if different, the Account Holder) by sending an email requiring an affirmative response through a tool-based authentication method such as providing a unique code that must be returned in a manner designated by the Registrar, or

the telephone number of the Registered Name Holder (and, if different, the Account Holder) by either (A) calling or sending an SMS to the Registered Name Holder’s telephone number providing a unique code that must be returned in a manner designated by the Registrar, or (B) calling the Registered Name Holder’s telephone number and requiring the Registered Name Holder to provide a unique code that was sent to the Registered Name Holder via web, email or postal mail.

In either case, if Registrar does not receive an affirmative response from the Registered Name Holder, Registrar shall either verify the applicable contact information manually or suspend the registration, until such time as Registrar has verified the applicable contact information. If Registrar does not receive an affirmative response from the Account Holder, Registrar shall verify the applicable contact information manually, but is not required to suspend any registration.

OpenSRS (Rocket-Powered.com’s registrar of choice) will implement the changes necessary to address these new clauses of the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement beginning January 1st, 2014 but potential registrants should be aware of the requirement for information/identity verification because providing inaccurate or incorrect information could cause the domain name to be suspended:

When registering, transferring, or updating the contact information of a domain name: registrants will be required to provide a correctly-formatted e-mail address to which the registrant has access and a working phone number to which the registrant also has access, and; registrars will be required to verify both pieces of information. If the registrar is unable to verify both pieces of information the registrar will be required to suspend the registration until the correct information is obtained.

Obviously, these new requirements aren’t onerous or overly burdensome but they do add administrative overhead (the cost of which will, undoubtedly, be passed along to the consumer) and they create an opportunity for administrative errors that may cause an interruption in service.